Water Is No Place For A Girl On Fire
by Once Upon An Anna
Summary: The capitol has decided to make a second game, called The Treasure Hunt. 24 teens go in, like the Hunger Games, but with no sponsors and only one clue to start out with. Peeta and Katniss are back in the arena for book 1.5 of hunger games!
1. Chapter 1

Peeta woke up to find Katniss curled up at the foot of the sofa in his living room. Haymitch had taken their parents out to District 2 for dinner, something he did only when he was in a good mood. For safety reasons, they made them stay in one house. Prim was tossing and turning in a small chair by the fire, with a green-and-tan striped blanket tucked around her tiny body.

He heard a noise. Sounded like a their parents were home! He nudged Katniss. "Wake up, our parents are home."

Katniss groaned and stretched out, accidentally punching Peeta in the nose. "What was that for?" Peeta complained. "Oh, sorry!" Katniss giggled. When Peeta got mad, his face crinkled up in a weird way.

There was a knock on the door. Peeta stood up and walked over to get the door, when, not his parents' faces did he see, he saw Cinna. "How are we doing over at the Mallark residence?" He said in his tone that crossed between mysterious and angry.

"Just fine. Katniss just woke up."

"Is Prim here?" he asked nervously.

Peeta pointed to the lump of blanket in the corner.

"Crap. This living room is the only place in the house not bugged, so we need to find a way to get her out of here. I am pretty sure her ears are too fragile to hear the news I need to tell you."

Katniss awakened suddenly, after drifting back to sleep. "Cinna! What are you doing here?"

"I need to tell you something." He said in a hushed voice.

It was then that Katniss remembered that the house was bugged. She nodded her head and helped carry Prim up to the top level and plunk her into the first bed they saw. "Sweet dreams, little duck." She whispered.

Cinna then pulled the two into the passageway that connected the Victors' homes. "I have horrible news. Snow just ordered that victors are eligible for the new games. The bad ones."

Peeta and Katniss both gasped.

"The NEW games? There are only 12 people from each district in the reapings for the new games! And, of course they would love the drama of making the victors compete again!"

A tired Prim came downstairs. "What is all the racket downstairs? I heard something about the new hunger games. What is the new hunger games? What are the doing with Katniss?" She almost yelled the last bit. Prim had never seen this angry before. Cinna tried to calm her down. "The new hunger games is a quest for an object, not a fight to the death. The tributes are still armed with weapons, But technically they don't have to kill anybody. There are tweleve peple from each district put into the drawing. We just found out that victors are going to be put in the drawing too."

Prim started wailing. "She IS going back to fight, I know it, I just know it!" She ran back into the house, and you could hear her sob the whole way back up the stairs and into the house.

"Hopefully the capitol will have the decency to not put us back in, but I am sure they won't. I mean, afterall, we are talking about the capitol, not happy-smiley-face-land." Peeta rolled his eyes.

"So does this mean we are going back in?"

She got a muffled reply in return. "Yes."


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later, the reapings began. District 1, District 2, District 3, and by the time they got to District 11, I felt a pit grow in my stomach. Peeta and I had a 2/12 chance of going in, but with the capitols influence, I was sure it would be 12/12. And sure enough, Effie pulled out Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark.

"Look! What a surprise! Our two champions come back for more!" she shrieked. Effie looked absolutely insane in an aqua wig with neon green makeup. At least the wig had changed color from the usual pink. Peeta gave me a quick kiss, and we held hands and raised them over our heads as District 12 went wild. Gale looked at me from the audience with a raised eyebrow. The he mouthed the words, "Meet me in the woods. When this is done."

I ran to the woods for the hour or two we had before they came to collect us back to the mayor's home. I saw Gale next to the opening under the fence nearest to my old house. "What are they doing to you?" Gale demanded. I was guessing this was a question he didn't want me to answer. "They have the nerve to promise you that you'll never go back again. I hate Snow. Damn him."

"But Gale," I said in my best imitation Effie Trinket voice. "This is The Treasure Hunt, not The Hunger Games! Anything the capitol wants will be theirs!"

We burst out laughing, falling to the grass and laying there until a hoverplane flew overhead. It flew closer to the ground, and closer until it stopped. Then, I saw the scariest sight ever. President Snow was staring at me, with his snake like eyes. Peeta was in there too, and before I could scream for help, two peacekeepers threw me in.

"You thought you could escape, ehhh?" They teased me.

"How could you do this to us?" I screamed. "We were promised never to have to go back into the arena, and then hover planes just pick me up and tote me away!"

Snow drew a small bottle full of poisonous looking liquid. "This is how." He replied with a smug grin.

"You bastards!" was all I heard before they started twisting Peeta's neck. I kicked the peacekeeper, which set Snow off.

"If either of you cause any disturbance at this game, you and your families are dead. And anyone you even slightly care about."

I thought about Madge, Gale, Prim, Mother, Greasy Sae, and everyone else I cared about. I decided to keep quiet the rest of the ride. When we arrived after the 10 hour silent trip, I stretched my legs out, "accidentally" tripping a peacekeeper. Snow made the 'finger across throat' motion, and I fell silent.

I met Cinna after I was dragged into the building, which made my day only 100 times better. His gold eyeliner and natural looking clothes made me feel at home in a big room circled by mirrors and racks of fabrics, scissors, machines, and costumes. "Beauty Base Zero. Then we will take it from there."

They set me in the light orange bathtub, which made me think of Peeta, and how much he loved orange. He also loved me. I wondered what they were doing to Peeta right now.

I was shocked when Cinna kissed me, pulled off a face mask, and their stood Gale.


	3. Chapter 3

"GALE!" I screamed. He was here! I wonder how he did that. Just as I was thinking about it, the real Cinna came out. He stood there, examining me in my skimpy, thin dress. "I thought I would scare you a bit…honestly, it was Gale's idea, and I thought you might be a little happier with your best friend here. Let's get you some real clothes and get all ready for the big night, kay?" He chuckled. "Oh, and Gale, go down to the hovercart A/D/S and get three hot chocolates. Tell them it's on Simpera's card."

I remembered that name right away. President Snow's personal makeup girl, who Cinna did not appear to like. While Gale was out getting the drinks, Cinna showed me my costume for the opening night. Half of the knee length dress was shiny fabric that had such a real looking water pattern, I wanted to drink it. The other side was identical, but with a red flame pattern. "Twirl when you get up on the stage, alright Katniss?"

"And, last but not least, our District 12 tributes!" I cupped my hand and waved back and forth, and after 15 seconds of this, Twirled around. The audience gasped. The fire from one side and the water from the other side turned 3D, and mixed all around, so it looked like I was wearing a mixture of fire and water droplets. Then, I understood the true meaning of the dress. The fire was the rebels, and the water was The Capitol. After 60 seconds, the dress was engulfed in red and orange flames. I rose my hands in the air. Peeta's outfit was doing the same thing. "GIVE IT UP, FOR DISTRICT 12!"

As I walked out, I greeted the many anxious fans. My dress was now harmless, and had gone back to the half water half fire thing. Finnick Odair chuckled when he saw me. "Katniss, you are lookin' hot!" he smirked.

President Snow walked up to me, and said the scariest nine words ever-"Water is no place for a girl on fire."


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, I snuggled up next to Peeta. He kissed me, and his minty breath filled my nose up. "What did you think of our costumes?" he asked. 

"Well, I am really hoping that Snow thinks the average citizen won't be able to find the real meaning in that costume."

"There was another meaning to that costume?" He says in a high voice.

"Exactly." I laugh. Gale comes in briefly, but when he sees us kissing, he leaves. I tear away from Peeta and run after Gale. It hurts me to see the pained expression on Peeta's face, but I don't want to loose Gale. It sounds stupid and mean, but I could loose Gale, but Peeta would still be there for me. Gale isn't as forgiving,

"All you do is kiss the baker. What do you think, he will give you free bread? What else do you see in him?" Gale yells at me. "I have just been waiting back here for years, waiting for you to look at me, and then a bread boy comes, and you fall head over heals for him?" He just shakes his head.

All night, I toss and turn. I can't get any sleep, and that is something I will need if I am to do well in this Treasure Hunt. I wake up from one hour of sleep, being pulled to the ground by Haymitch. "BIG DAY! THE ONE DAY I DON'T GET DRUNK, YOU GO AND SLEEP IN!"

I don't want any breakfast, but because there will be no sponsors or help of any kind during The Treasure Hunt, I know that I need to get all the food I can hold, in case we don't have any bows and arrows for me to shoot something.

They give us our assigned uniforms of the games, which Cinna says will most likely be underwater or in zero gravity. He puts the mockingjay pin over my heart, loads me onto the metal plate, and after sixty seconds of excruciating waiting, the gong rings, and water floods everywhere. Cinna was right,,,the whole thing will be underwater. I reach out for Peeta and we swim to one of the small houses we see on the bottom. Surprisingly, the houses are normal gravity, and we can eat and drink in them, talk and move without our suits. The only problem is, there are only two houses, and some careers will want them soon enough, and because there is no cornacopia, we have no weapons to fight with, and they would win in brute force. I notice a small piece of paper with a few words on it. I pick it up. "Peeta, look, it is the first clue!"

It reads:

'If you have come to a safe house, you must be of strong mind, which is why you are getting this clue. The green eel's cave is what you seek.'

"Well, now we know one thing, we have to get to the green eel's cave. Simple enough."

A few seconds too late we see the evil glare of a career peaking through the window, that just heard everything we said, and has a gun. BAAAAAAAM.


	5. Chapter 5

The career vanished into the deep blue sea. Peeta's ear was bleeding like crazy. I tore a strip off the bandage roll in the house's first aid kit, and wrapped it around his ear. Then, I started to sing.

"If I drift away, heaven will greet me. Will you be there, singing with me? If you float away, into the clouds, send me a message, send me a song. Sing every day, sing every morning. The sun's come back up, get ready to play"

I could hear dead silence around me. I gave Peeta a painkiller pill and went to sleep. I awoke to water rising up, like a flood you would see in District 4. Waves crashing around me, I screamed for Peeta to get up. We quickly donned our deepsea gear, and evacuated, me clutching the small survival kit I found in the house. We swam and swam for miles, but with Peeta still sleepy from the painkiller, it was mostly me doing the swimming. I noticed a small alcove to the side, and swam in. I rested on the ledge for a second, and then realized that the cave had gravity too. I took off my mask and walked on, into the cave. Peeta fumbled behind me, misplacing his feet and falling over so many times I had to carry him. As we got further into the cave, I started hearing voices. "Katnissssssss, yooooouu can wiiiiiin…wiiiiiin…yoooooou arrrrre noooooow iinnnn theeeee caaaaaave offfff theeeeee greeeeen eeeeeeeeeellll. Youuuuuu arrrrrrrreee nowwwwwwww saaaaaaaafe katnissssssss. Sleeeeeeep. Sleeeeeeeep."

My eyelids fell closed several times, but I struggled to keep them open. "Katnissssssss…" the voice whispered.

I found myself on the floor 10 hours later, with about five careers standing around me, armed with the illegal weapons I had no idea where they got. I saw one had a bow and arrow, so I aimed at them. I pushed the tip of my toe up against my boot, and launched the sole at my attacker's leg, causing him to fall over. I took his bow and held it up against the others. They all ran out of the cave in fright. "Katniss, what was that all about?" Peeta inquired about a minute later. I showed him the bow and arrows I had scored, and he went quiet. A cannon boomed. Wow, I never knew how good of a kick I had.

Peeta's keen eye noticed something I hadn't-an engraving on the wall.

'The next clue you seek, is a token from your reap."

This puzzled us for a while. What do people give us during the reaping? The special District 12 goodbye/respect sign, sorrow, heart-melting goodbyes? All of these beautiful things you could never find as a place as horrible as the arena. But then I remembered. As soon as the tributes come up, the mayor and the important people of 12 throw roses at the tributes.

"Peeta, I have it! We have to go and find a rose!"

"A rose?"

"Yes! A rose!"

"Then we better get out of here before something bad happens, and go find that rose!" He whispered nervously.


	6. Chapter 6

Where would I find a rose in an underwater arena? We swam around until we felt dizzy with hunger and lack of sleep, and drifted down to one of the houses on the bottom. As soon as we landed on the bottom, we snuck down under the window to hear what the Careers inside were saying. "That damn Everdeen just killed our best guy with a kick. We have to get revenge."

Another tribute from District 2 with wavy brown hair replied, "but what about the rose?"

A girl from District 1 raised her eyebrows. "Well, they gave us a hint before the games like they do every year. They said there is a garden of roses guarded by unfriendly creatures."

I looked at Peeta with shock. The Careers got hints that we didn't? Well, District 12 was stealing their hint. We decided to get slowly chew on some beef jerky in the small survival kit we stole from the first house we stayed in at the beginning of the games. The Careers continued their conversation.

"How will we get back at this Everdeen girl?"

"Lets give her a taste of her own medicine. I say we wait for her at the rose garden and shoot her. So glad the Capitol snuck us some weapons, too bad Everdeen stole Flane's bow and arrows."

Peeta and I exchanged glances. The Capitol gives Careers unseen advantages to prove the horrible reign over the districts.

"When should we get to the rose garden?" the District 2 boy asked.

"Right….now."

Me and Peeta fled to the nearest cave, watching the Careers swim by. We followed their trail to figure out where the rose garden was, but then turned around.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" I asked Peeta.

"We go and steal the Career's food while they are awaiting us at the rose garden?"

"No, but that's a great idea. Let's go!"

We swam back to the house, and pillaged their food supply. We ducked behind a big coral plant about 15 meters wide while some District 9 tributes and their allies from 8 swam by, searching frantically for the rose they could not find. If only they had the Capitol's hints and weapons, District 9 might actually have a victor for once in 56 years.

Careers eat pretty well, with about 20 cans of soup and carrots, one package of meat, and 2 full jugs of water. We stole it all and left. Then, I noticed the smallest Career in the corner. He was about to scream when I shot him in the heart and heard the cannon go off a minute later. "Nice" Peeta winked.

Ducking into an alcove, I tried to cook the meat from a leak of boiling hot water form underground. Peeta opened the can of soup, and we had the best dinner the arena could offer. Hungry and sleepy, we fell down and dosed off. I woke up the next day with Peeta tugging at my shoulder. "We should go see if the careers have figured out their precious food supply has been stolen."

Taking a lesson from our inner thief, we took our supplies in case they wanted to get back at us. Sure enough, the careers shrieked as soon as they opened the pantry of the mini kitchen. "Everdeen did this, I am sure of it!" a tall, broad shouldered boy announced.

"Could have been the kids from district 6, they looked pretty naughty."

"Everdeen."

"6!"

"Everdeen"

"It's the pair from 6 you knock head!"

Then they noticed the dead career in the corner with an arrow in his heart.

In one breath, they all whispered "District 12."


	7. Chapter 7

Peeta and I went on a quest to find the rose. Trying to remember the path the Careers had taken yesterday, we found the rose garden. We couldn't find any of the creatures that were rumored to live in the garden, only stone statues of weird people with swords. I saw one of the clues carved into the statues. I ran over to the statue, and traced my hands over the words.

"Fight me to find the clue on the back of my sword."

Just as all the stone creatures in the garden came to life, I realized what the Careers were talking about. I bit my lip as about 50 stone creatures walked around me, wielding 100 pound swords each. The only way I could destroy them would be with acids I couldn't get because there were no sponsors.

I couldn't shoot them with arrows, because they were stone. Peeta's six-pack wouldn't help either. How could you destroy these monsters? So I just ran.

"Good job, Katniss, we need that clue."

"I have an idea. The Capitol probably gave the Careers the clue, so we just go evesdrop."

"Even better than getting in a fight with thousands of pounds of stone."

We ran over to the Career' mini shack. "I can't believe there was no clue on the back of the sword!" The boy from Districit 2 said.

"Remember, they told us it was just a trick to kill Katniss and make us win again. So that they could prove superiority to all the higher number districts. Something like that." The girl from 4 rolled her eyes. "Were you even awake during that pre-games speech they gave us?"

A quick glance at Peeta told he was just as upset about this as I was.

"So what was the clue?"

"Bug. On."

"That means someone is hiding outside listening to us, right?" The dumb boy from District 2 asked innocently.

"YES! AND THANKS FOR GIVING US AWAY, DASOD!" She gave him a death glare, and whispered something to the others. "Dasod, go outside." Aquamarine smirked. Then, it hit me. She knew we were outside, and gave him to me to kill. But I looked at Peeta. We knew what we were going to do. Aquamarine and the rest of the Careers were anxiously looking out the window, waiting to watch him get a death blow. He came outside looking puppy dog sad. "If you are going to kill me, please do it quickly."

"No, Dasod. We aren't going to kill you. Would you like to be our ally?"

Aquamarine and the Careers looked shocked. This was perfect. He was dumb enough to tell us all of the Careers secrets, if we emphasized how horribly they were treating him, but smart enough not to scream out where we were to the whole arena. I smiled in delight. This could work out perfectly.

We took Dasod back behind the massive, bright blue coral that reminded me of Effie's odd colored wigs. We set out all of our few possessions, and told him the basics. "Dasod, we need your help. Only you can help us. Those other Ally's of yours-they were just using you because you were so smart. So, with your smart powers, can you tell me where the next clue is?"

"My old friends have it locked up in their shack. They are keeping it very safe because they don't want you to have it."

I rolled my eyes. This kid was stupid.

"Yes, Dasod, but do you remember what the clue said?"

"It said-'roses are red, violets are blue, if you are reading this clue, go to the mountain at noon."

Mountain would be a volcano. There was only one volcano, and it probably erupted at noon? That or something weird that gave you the next clue happened at noon. I wasn't taking my chances either way. "Dasod, would you go to the volcano at noon for us?"

"Sure! Anything to help out my new allies, right?"

Dasod went out to look for more clues about what the volcano did at noon. Peeta kissed me. I drifted asleep in his arms for about the first time in a week. Sleep felt so good.


	8. Chapter 8

**sorry for not writing in such a long time, im a horrible person :(**

**comment on the new chapter! is it better or worse?**

**p.s.-I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES! I know the title is similar to a slogan in the books, but please no lawsuits? :D**

Dasod came back covered in ashes at 5 AM. "Kat, I have a problem. A strange man came. He poured these black fire things all over me, and I don't know what's happening!"

Just like that, everything went dark.

"Peeta, what's happening?"

"Dunno, why are you asking me?"

I know it sounds kind of stupid, but I went back to sleep. It was dark, I figured it was a power outage, and Peeta would wake me up again when we could see. When I woke up , however, it was not because Peeta was shaking my arm. It was because needles were being poked into my skin.

I heard bits of the conversation. Men with white coats walked everywhere, eyeing me suspiciously as if I had destroyed their tea cup. "Dasod", "figured it out", and "WHAT?" were they key-and only-parts of the conversation I heard. I didn't know what was happening, where I was, or what Dasod had done. A white coat stuck another needle in my skin, and stupidly, I fell asleep.

I woke up to another white coat. "Miss Everdeen, we need you to get dressed and come to room 34C in 5 minutes." I tried to look at his clipboard, but he pulled it away. After he exited, I pulled on the clothes put on my bed rail. The skinny jeans and preppy sweater were not exactly my style, but I grimmaced and headed to 34C.

President Snow greeted me as soon as I walked in. "I see you took the time out of your busy schedule to join us, Miss Everdeen? Oh my, only 10 minutes late! This must be a record!" I rolled my eyes. Apparently, it had taken me longer than I thought to find this stupid room. "Well, you all know that for some reason, a reason you do not yet know, all of your scrawny lives were saved because of one stupid boy. He figured out the secret, but, we couldn't let little Dasod win, could we?" President Snow chuckled. "Could we have a weakling win The Treasure Hunt? I don't think so! So, we ended the games, and now you can go back to living a normal life!"

The 10 people that remained all cheered, but Snow was still talking. He raised his voice and cleared this throat, and all of a sudden, you could hear a pin drop. "Not so fast. You can't just walk out of here without having some challenge, can you?" He pulled out a leather satchel filled with yellow boxes. "In this box, you will find a camera. You have 10 a limit of 13 pictures, so keep that in mind as I speak." A few Avoxes stumbled into the room and passed around the cameras. "You will each be given 13 things you have to take a picture of. There is one from each district, plus the capitol. Because there is a limit of 13 picture and 13 things you have to capture on tape, there is no room for mistake. Everything will have to be taken at the exact moment, or else your picture is not perfect. Anyone who cannot take 13 PERFECT pictures by next week will be executed in public in the most painful way possible. He snapped his fingers and the Avoxes handed us scraps of paper with 13 phrases on each. "To take each picture will be a challenge. Even more of a challenge than The Treasure Hunt. Oh, and did I mention, the whole thing will be on national TV?"

We wandered out, and I looked at Peeta with dismay. "Okay, this is impossible. 'A picture of 43 miners (IN District 2 mines) from an bird's eye view of 300 feet.' That is just...crazy. How will we ever be able to do 13 of these tasks in one week?"

I slumped against the wall. "My life is over. I will never be able to do this." My pupils dilated when I saw a video recorder. "Hi! My name is Max Sumther. I'm team leader of the District 12 Treasure Hunt live action team! I'll be following you around and filming you failing for the next week. Any questions?"


End file.
